Carrie Fisher passed away yesterday at the age of 60. Although best known for her work as Princess Leia Organa in four Star Wars movies, she was so much more: a tremendous writer, an incredible wit, one of Hollywood’s most prolific script doctors, and a brutally honest personality whose openness about mental illness provided hope and inspiration for many.

The fact that we can build an entire article around her colleagues saying nice things about her speaks volumes.

There was a time when Star Wars didn’t inspire the kind of excitement that it does today. Nowadays, whether you’re a fan or an actor desperate to get a role in the latest movie, you can’t help but get extremely excited for the prospect of what’s to come. But back in 1976, there weren’t any Star Wars fans, and a job on this original sci-fi movie from young filmmaker George Lucas was just another job.

The documentary Elstree 1976 takes a look back at what it was like to be on the set of the original Star Wars, through the eyes of some of the actors whose names you probably don’t know unless you’re a hardcore fan. In addition, we get to see how some of the actors have their own little fanbase, and how Star Wars has touched their lives. But they didn’t all have an equally satisfying experience. Watch the Star Wars documentary trailer to find out more. Read More »

Star Wars made, well, stars out of actors like Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. But they’re only a few of the actors who populated the film. A couple others, such as Alec Guinness, had been stars for decades. Others, many of whom were part of the film’s masked cast, saw their characters rocket to incredible popularity as the actors themselves remained relatively anonymous. Most everyone could identify Darth Vader and Boba Fett in a second. But how many people could pick David Prowse or Jeremy Bulloch out of a lineup?

Elstree 1976 is a film dedicated to conversations with people such as Prowse and Bulloch. It gets in touch with some of the actors who made Star Wars what it was, but who are mostly invisible to the public at large. Some of the actors are just a step up from being extras, while others are featured players whose faces were hidden behind the masks that captured the imaginations of generations of viewers. Check out a trailer below. Read More »

Besides Thursday’s really bigStar Wars Episode VII news, there are some very interesting bits on that film, the casting call, J.J. Abrams and even a change to the original trilogy in today’s Star Wars Bits. Read about the following after the jump:

J.J. Abrams discusses fan reactions on the Internet.

Saoirse Ronan confirms she didn’t get the role in Star Wars Episode VII.

A single line, omitted from Return of the Jedi, changes the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Though people today constantly complains about spoilers, they regularly take for granted that they’re available at all. Today, someone can do a simple Google search and find out almost any secret they want to in regards to a movies or television. That’s pretty incredible, especially when you think it wasn’t so long ago the only way movies got spoiled was in the occasional magazine article, printed review or if someone blurted it out while you were in line for the next show.

In 1978, David Prowse – the actor who wore the Darth Vader suit in the original Star Wars Trilogy – did a personal appearance in Berkeley, California which was covered by a local newspaper. At the event, Prowse answered questions about “Star Wars II” and “Star Wars III” and also just happened to mention the greatest spoiler in movie history – that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father. In 1978. Two years before The Empire Strikes Back was released. We’ve got the original article after the jump. Read More »

As many of you already know, James Earl Jones is the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films, but he was not the actor in the suit during filming. A couple weeks ago a video circulated the web, showing actor David Prowse‘s original performance (sans Jones voice replacement). We have had it on the list of videos to be featured in VOTD (Video of the Day) but have been unable to fit it in until now. So if you haven’t yet seen this footage, in the behind the scenes doc or the youtube clip that made the rounds two weeks back, check it out now, after the jump.Read More »

During an interview with Equity Magazine, David Prowse, the actor who played (but didn’t voice) Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy, claims that LucasFilm has yet to pay him any residual payments on Return of the Jedi because the the film has yet to make a profit.

“I get these occasional letters from Lucasfilm saying that we regret to inform you that as Return of the Jedi has never gone into profit, we’ve got nothing to send you. Now here we’re talking about one of the biggest releases of all time,” said Prowse. “I don’t want to look like I’m bitching about it,” he said, “but on the other hand, if there’s a pot of gold somewhere that I ought to be having a share of, I would like to see it.”

Of course, Return of the Jedi has grossed over $572 million worldwide, which includes an estimated $88 million when the film was re-released in 1997. So how is it possible that the film has yet to make a profit? Prowse really can’t be serious, can he?